Tulsa, Oklahoma-based The Williams Companies, Inc. (WMB) operates as an energy infrastructure company primarily in the United States. With a market cap of $65.9 billion, WMB operates through Transmission & Gulf of America, Northeast G&P, West, and Gas & NGL Marketing Services segments.
Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap stocks,” WMB fits the bill perfectly. As a key player in the Oil & Gas Midstream industry, WMB operates a large portfolio of operations comprising interstate natural gas pipelines, and their related natural gas storage facilities, as well as natural gas gathering and processing, and crude oil production handling and transportation.
Despite its strengths, WMB has fallen nearly 10.5% from its all-time high of $61.46, recorded on Jan. 22. Meanwhile, the stock has fallen marginally over the past three months, outperforming the Nasdaq Composite’s ($NASX) 12.8% decline during the same time frame.
Over the longer term, WMB has also showcased significant growth. WMB surged 20.6% over the past six months and 49.9% over the past 52 weeks, significantly outperforming NASX’s marginal rise over the past six months and 9.1% returns over the past 52 weeks.
To confirm the overall bullish trend and recent downturn, WMB has remained consistently above its 200-day moving average over the past year and dropped below its 50-day moving average recently.
Delivering impressive financials, WMB’s stock surged 4.8% in the trading session following the release of its Q4 earnings release on Feb. 12. The company reported total revenues of $10.5 billion and operating income of $3.3 billion for the full financial year. For the fourth quarter, the company’s adjusted net income came in at $579 million and its adjusted EPS came in at $0.47, surpassing the Wall Street EPS estimates by 4.4%.
However, WMB has also fallen short of its peer, Kinder Morgan, Inc.'s (KMI) surge of 23.8% over the past six months but outperformed its 46.6% surge over the past 52 weeks.
Analysts remain moderately bullish on WMB’s prospects. WMB stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating among the 20 analysts covering it. WMB’s mean price target of $60.05 implies a 9.2% potential upside from the current market prices.
